Nessun Dorma (None Shall Sleep)
by regertz
Summary: The Orphans learn that the Creator has turned his back on his daughters and the experiment is terminated.
1. Chapter 1

"Nessun Dorma (None Shall Sleep)":

Summary: The Orphans learn that the Creator has turned his back on his daughters and the experiment is terminated.

Disclaimer: No copywrite infringement intended.

"Nessun dorma…" (None shall sleep)

Summary: The Creator has turned his back on the orphans and the experiment is terminated.

Disclaimer: No copywright infringement intended.

Prologue…

Music playing… The "Nessun Dorma" aria from "Turandot", sung by Pavarotti…

"In the beginning, God created the Heaven, and the Earth. And the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." Solemn, quiet voice…

Movement of a solitary tall figure in the dark, lit only by the faintest glows from instrument panels, past a long line of steel tanks…Faint rumbling of circulating fluid…He paused at one to peer through the glass of the tank door at the form afloat…Touching finger to the glass.

A tiny hand reached out toward his…Closed eyes opening without recognition in the darkness…Suddenly wide as light poured on in the vast room…White, dazzling…

"And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light, Day, and the darknesse he called Night: and the evening and the morning were the first day."

The figure intoned to the face afloat in the tank… "And God…Named you…Elisabeth…" he beamed at the face. "Good morning, Elisabeth…Welcome to a brave new world." Grin at the wrinkling face, eyes closing tight against the light.

"Nessun dorma, Elisabeth…None shall sleep…" Turning… "None shall sleep, ladies!" he called aloud to the tanks, shining and bright in the white light… "Wake up, my girls…And listen…Listen…" he beamed as the programmed music amplified rapidly…

"The end of darkness, the end of night…Today, we step into the light…None shall sleep, my children, my girls…My princesses! And my name no one shall know…My secret is hidden within me…" grin…On the exhalant face of a thirties-ish Aldous Leekie, triumphant, exposed in the white, harsh light…

"Until the light shines…"

"Nessun dorma! Nessun dorma!

Tu pure, o, Principessa,

nella tua fredda stanza,

guardi le stelle

che tremano d'amore

e di speranza.

Ma il mio mistero è chiuso in me,

il nome mio nessun saprà!

No, no, sulla tua bocca lo dirò

quando la luce splenderà!

Ed il mio bacio scioglierà il silenzio

che ti fa mia!

(Il nome suo nessun saprà!...

e noi dovrem, ahime, morir!)

Dilegua, o notte!

Tramontate, stelle!"

"None shall sleep! None shall sleep!

Even you, o Princess, in your cold room, watch the stars, that tremble with love and with hope. But my secret is hidden within me, my name no one shall know...

No!...No!...

On your mouth I will tell it when the light shines. And my kiss will dissolve the silence that makes you mine!... (None will know his name and we must, alas, die.) Vanish, o night! Set, stars! Set, stars! At dawn, I will win! I will win! I will win!"

"None will know my name…And you must, alas…Live, to die…" he eyed the tanks. Unfathomable look…Perhaps in the mix of triumph and joy, ambition and hubris, the slightest touch of sorrow…

"Let there be light…" he opened and spread out his hands…

Part I…

Twenty-eight years later…

The sterile, gleaming halls of the Dyad Institute…

Security guard in cap behind desk, eyeing various monitors, looking up at the late visitors, two women, beams at one, Delphine…Whose own companion bears not only an equally bright smile but the exact, with some allowance for dress, hair, and makeup, face as the guard, though keeping just back of the tall blonde, out of easy camera view.

"Late night…" Allison in security guard outfit smiles for the cameras, Delphine, frowning involuntarily…Seeing her last hope at escape vanishing, placing her security card on scanner which beeps to allow access.

Bitch de la Parie wasn't expecting we'd have insiders…Allison eyes Cosima, smiling behind Delphine, keeping gun under folded coat carefully pointed at her "friend's" mid-section.

"Just seeing to a few things…" Delphine, at a slight poke from Cosima.

We rehearsed this, Frenchie…And you had it down, back at our hotel, thanks to the stimulating effect of Paul's menacing manner and my gun shoved in your back.

"Terrific. Just call if you need anything…Maintenance…Or anything…" Allison carefully maintaining smile. "Janitor's in the main lobby, I'll be making my rounds shortly."

So now we know where Donnie is…Ok…Cosima, faint nod. Stepping away with Delphine toward a bank of elevators…

And in we go…To see the old stompin' grounds…The cradle, the crèche…

And if our remaining girls and boys have done their jobs…Dear ole Dad…

They entered the elevator stopping at Delphine's press of button…She pausing as the doors closed, clearly wishing to speak.

"Lets get there…I'm anxious to see the place." Cosima cut her off with a pleasant smile. Not a word on your part, as I told you, girlfriend…

No way do I believe these things aren't fully monitored…And even if Allison is orphaning the security desk…Not a time to take chances letting Delpy give me a big speech that sounds a red alert to someone.

Delphine, shrugging, pressed the sub-sub-basement floor button.

Allison, now relaxing slightly or attempting to as she nervously rubs hands…

Why did I agree not to take my anti-anxiety meds? She eyes the various cameras…Calming a bit at sight of Donnie carefully pushing a floor polisher about the lobby.

That's my boy. Thank God he's handy…Hmmn…She eyed the gleaming lobby floor.

We have to get one of those for our hardwoods…I hear they're the best thing for bringing out the grain.

Assuming we're not dead or in prison by tomorrow…

Twelve blocks away, a limo pulling up to one of the most elegant hotels in town…

"You will not get away with this…" Olivier Duval, calmly…In tux, next to a begowned and gloved Sarah, a blonde wig piled high in style similar to Delphine's dressier hair styles. He leaned forward to address the driver in front…

"Paul? You have one last chance to avoid ending up in prison or dead. No one will believe any charges you try to press…And I assure you Dr. Leekie has the connections and the power, not to mention enough well-placed, implicated people, to quash anything you try to accomplish here."

"That's nice. Keep quiet or I'm quite happy to prop up your corpse." Sarah noted.

"Paul? Don't be a fool…You know…" cut off by Sarah's harsh jab with gun to stomach.

"Last warning…" she noted. "Fred?..." she eyed her twin on Olivier's opposite side, likewise gowned and coiffed.

"Ja…" Frederika nodded… "Happy to…" she put gun to Olivier's side.

"Ladies…This is a fool's errand." Olivier noted calmly.

"We're dead, Olivier…By your boss' pronounce…What do we care about whether this gets us anywhere or no, so long as we get a piece of you and him?" Sarah noted calmly.

"Not all of you…" he replied… "You know that…And if you're requesting repair, some of you…I've told you the possibility exists…If you act rationally."

"Repair?...Can you fix my sister?" Frederika asked quietly. "Ve'd be quite impressed by Father if he could raise from der dead as well. Der true Frankenstein after all."

"That was in her best interests…She would have suffered dreadfully." Dismissive wave of hand.

"And we'll be as nice about it too, Olli…Wouldn't want you to rot in a prison cell…" Sarah, pleasant smile.

"It was a mistake to let you and Katja be raised together, I think…" Olivier eyed Frederika… "But the Doctor thought it an interesting side experiment to have a positive and a control raised together."

"She wasn't less a sister to the rest of us…If that's what you mean, Olli…" Sarah firmly.

"You're only speeding up your own end, Sarah…And it's a pity you choose to sacrifice your time like this."

"Maybe God can forgive all transgressions, Olli…And overlook a minor one like killing you." Sarah, shrugging. Grabbing at the cell phone now buzzing in her hand purse.

"Frances?"

"Yeah…Hello…" another orphan, inside the elegant hotel, in professional suit, long Bethish brunette hair, earpiece…

"Are you in position?"

"He's in the suite…I'm outside, so yeah…"

"Ok…Does he seem?"

"Far as I can tell, clueless yet. He sent me to change…Didn't seem to be concerned."

"Good…Ok."

"Frances! Don't be…" Duval groaning as he was jabbed by Fred's gun where Paul had previously been at work with his kidneys.

"F-you, freak." Frances' voice.

"Big mistake on Daddy's part putting one of us in close as an assistant." Sarah noted. "Funny as he no doubt thought it was…"

"He wanted one near to observe himself…And you're totally wrong about Dr. Leekie…" Duval moaned… "He loves you all."

"Der way Pavlov loved his dogs?" Frederika smiled.

"The experiment had to run its course, untouched. He didn't enjoy knowing many of you would die…And it's not his fault the termination protocol had to be effected. I've seen him holding you a dozen times in his arms as you died, in infant stages...As children. Weeping…"

"Great…Then he can rejoice at us survivin'…" Sarah noted.

Sardonic, if cautious…Do not want another jab in the battered kidneys, please…Chuckle… "Sweetheart, do you really think kidnapping Aldous Leekie will save you, any of you?" Duval shook his head. "The people who sanctioned this project will not let you live, now they're endangered. Even he can't prevent that."

"Then we'll see it's never 'sanctioned' again…We owe our sisters that much." Sarah noted.

"This project is the reason you're alive, Sarah…All of you…What would you all have been but a clump of disposed frozen eggs if Dr. Leekie hadn't had the vision and the courage…"

"We're still nothing but a clump of eggs to him, Olli…" Sarah eyed him. "Let a few of us live, flush us all, it's all the same to that bastard…"

"He tortured my sister…" Frederika, quietly. "He implanted the modification that he knew would make her suffer and die…"

"So that thousands could be saved, one day…" Duval shook his head. "You are heroes, dying for the betterment of Humanity…And he was merciful to her."

"Merciful…Helena's mercy through her skull? Without our consent…Less than human…What next, designer lines of us for the wealthy guy who wants a brain-dead girlfriend?" Sarah eyed him.

"You aren't human, Sarah. You're salvage from genetic junk that would have been cast into a garbage dump…" Duval, calmly. "Any status as a human being you have is due to Dr. Leekie."

"Not Father…Gott der Father…" Frederika, quietly.

"And God is wise enough to know He must not interfere with His handiwork…" Duval, calmly.

"We're coming up to it…" Paul called from the driver's seat.


	2. Chapter 2

Pardon, this and other tales may sit a bit as I must go abroad for work for a while and can't say as to access. I will try to squeeze in more as I can. Yours, Robert Gertz


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